Otto Preminger: Anatomy of a Movie

11/27/09 to 12/20/09

“Otto Preminger must hold some sort of record for one of the longest stretches of provocative and intelligent mainstream filmmaking in American cinema” (Village Voice). We survey the director's work from noir classics like Laura through the feisty indies of the fifties and sixties.

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  • Bonjour Tristesse, December 19, 20|Columbia Pictures/Photofest

  • Upcoming
    Films
  • Upcoming
    Events
  • Selected
    Objects
  • Past
    Films
  • Past
    Events

Past Films

  • Bonjour Tristesse

    • Sunday, December 20 5:00 pm

    Otto Preminger (U.S., 1958). See December 19. (94 mins)

  • Bunny Lake Is Missing

    • Sunday, December 20 7:00 pm

    Otto Preminger (U.S., 1965). A quietly cracked Carol Lynley is the mother of a missing daughter who may or may not exist; Laurence Olivier investigates. Loaded with suspicion and suspense, this late Preminger is “an underrated masterpiece.”-Senses of Cinema (107 mins)

  • Bonjour Tristesse

    • Saturday, December 19 6:30 pm

    Otto Preminger (U.S., 1958). Pampered teen Jean Seberg looks back at a summer of Technicolor heartbreak on the French Riviera in this gorgeous adaptation of Françoise Sagan's novel. “Arguably, this is Preminger's masterpiece.”-Chicago Reader (94 mins)

  • Skidoo

    • Saturday, December 19 8:30 pm

    Otto Preminger (U.S., 1968). Set in San Francisco, Preminger's acid-fueled generational jest pits the hippies against the Mob, as embodied by Jackie Gleason. With Groucho Marx as God. (98 mins)

  • Carmen Jones

    • Friday, December 18 6:30 pm

    Otto Preminger (U.S., 1955). Dorothy Dandridge is the titular temptress, applying her wiles to G.I. Harry Belafonte, in a sizzling black-cast update of the Bizet opera. (107 mins)

  • Exodus

    • Sunday, December 13 3:00 pm

    Otto Preminger (U.S., 1960). With sweeping gusto, this epic adaptation of the Leon Uris novel details the events leading to the founding of the state of Israel. Paul Newman leads a stupendous cast. (212 mins)

  • Saint Joan

    • Saturday, December 12 6:30 pm

    Otto Preminger (U.S., 1957). Jean Seberg was chosen from thousands of applicants to play the Maid of Orléans in Preminger's version of George Bernard Shaw's play, adapted for the screen by Graham Greene. (110 mins)

  • The Man with the Golden Arm

    • Saturday, December 12 8:40 pm

    Otto Preminger (U.S., 1955). Frank Sinatra has a dope addiction that jazz can't cure in this groundbreaking film, censored for its frank treatment of a tough subject. “Sinatra's performance is pure gold.”-Pauline Kael (119 mins)

  • The Moon Is Blue

    • Friday, December 11 8:20 pm

    Otto Preminger (U.S., 1953). Condemned by the Legion of Decency for using terms like “virgin” and “pregnant,” Preminger's indie sex comedy is more surprising in its frothiness than for its alleged prurience. (99 mins)

  • Advise and Consent

    • Wednesday, December 9 7:00 pm

    Otto Preminger (U.S., 1962). This decades-old drama of Beltway intrigue reads like a contemporary playbook for political maneuvering, with Henry Fonda and Charles Laughton among the players. “By far the best political movie ever made in this country.”-Peter Bogdanovich (140 mins)

  • Whirlpool

    • Friday, December 4 6:30 pm

    Otto Preminger (U.S., 1950). “Can a man make a woman do things she doesn't want to?” Preminger's most overtly psychological noir finds Gene Tierney married to analyst Richard Conte but under the sway of smarmy hypnotist Jose Ferrer. (97 mins)

  • Anatomy of a Murder

    • Wednesday, December 2 7:00 pm

    Otto Preminger (U.S., 1959). Introduced by Carol Clover. A backwoods town is the setting for sordid accusations of murder and rape in “one of the most accomplished and ambiguous courtroom dramas ever filmed in America.”-Village Voice. With Jimmy Stewart for the defense, Ben Gazzara as the accused, and Lee Remick as trouble. (161 mins)

  • Daisy Kenyon

    • Sunday, November 29 5:30 pm

    Otto Preminger (U.S., 1947). Joan Crawford is torn between married lawyer Dana Andrews and tormented army gunner Henry Fonda. “Directed by Preminger with his customary blend of sinuous visual eloquence and analytic intelligence . . . (it's) that rarest of Hollywood entities: a realist romance.”-L.A. Times (99 mins)

  • Laura

    • Friday, November 27 7:00 pm

    Otto Preminger (U.S., 1944). Detective Dana Andrews is enthralled by a portrait of elusive Gene Tierney in Preminger's sleek noir, a study in duplicity that asks not just whodunit, but what “it” is. Featuring Clifton Webb and Vincent Price as preening rivals. (88 mins)

  • Fallen Angel

    • Friday, November 27 8:50 pm

    Otto Preminger (U.S., 1945). This follow-up to Laura trades the earlier film's gloss for lower-depths grit. Andrews drifts into a small town and into big trouble when his plans to finance a romance with Linda Darnell by marrying rich Alice Faye go awry. (98 mins)